New Runewords for Diablo 2 Resurrected
Blizzard announced new runewords will be released with the upcoming ladder season
Blizzard just announced that with patch 2.4, skill and mercenary balance changes are planned. To complement these balance changes, new runewords will be added to Diablo 2 Resurrected. They mention that a large number of runewords will be unlocked with the upcoming ladder season. It is however not 100% clear if all new runewords will be ladder-only. It is mentioned that the original Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction ladder-only runewords, will remain accessible to non-ladder in Diablo 2 Resurrected.
Make sure to check out our runeword calculator before the new ladder season hits, and don't miss out on any runewords you can create.
What do we know about the new runewords?
Currently, 7 runewords have been confirmed, Flickering Flame, Mist, Obsession, Pattern, Plague, Unbending Will and Wisdom. Plague and Pattern are runewords that existed in the original game files, but were disabled. 6 runewords have been revealed by streamers over the course of a few days, the last runeword was revealed in the patch notes. The patch notes are now available and can be found here.
1. Flickering Flame
Flickering Flame is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining nef + pul + vex into a 3 socket helm. It requires at least level 55 to equip.
It is a very strong helm runeword seemingly geared toward Fire Druids, at the same time, this will also be very beneficial to Fire Sorceresses. Given its +3 to Fire Skills (currently highest possible), and up to -15% to Enemy Fire Resistance, this is a best in slot choice for most fire builds.
Given its inherent Resist Fire Aura, means that this helm also provides the equivalent of 85%-106% Fire Resist. Since the aura applies to nearby allies, it can also be equiped by a mercenary to boost your own fire resistance. The bonus to maximum fire resistance only applies for hard skill points.
Resist Fire level breakdown Resist Fire level 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 radius 12 13.3 14.6 16 17.3 18.6 20 21.3 22.6 fire resist +% 66 76 85 92 98 102 106 110 113 bonus to max fire resist 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Level 4-8 Resist Fire Aura When Equipped (varies)
- +3 to Fire Skills
- -10-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance (varies)
- +30% Enhanced Defense
- +30 Defense vs. Missile
- Adds 3-14 Cold Damage
- +50-75 to Mana (varies)
- +5% to Maximum Fire Resist
- Half Freeze Duration
- Poison Length Reduced by 50%
- socketed (3)
advertisement2. Mist
Mist is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining cham + shael + gul + thul + ith into a 5 socket missile weapon. It requires at least level 67 to equip.
Mist is a great runeword for missile weapons and a fierce competitor for Faith. It boasts a unique 100% chance to Pierce Targets, Level 9 Concentration Aura and massive Enhanced Damage. On top of its nice offensive stats, it also rocks a decent 40 to All Resistances.
This runeword perfectly fts in the theme of the 2.4 patch to rebalance other mercenaries, and seems to be an effort to buff the Act 1 Rouge Mercenary.
Concentration level breakdown Concentration level 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 radius 17.3 18.6 20 21.3 22.6 24 25.3 26.6 28 bonus damage +% 135 150 165 180 195 210 225 240 255 - Level 8-12 Concentration Aura When Equipped (varies)
- +3 to All Skills
- +20% Increased Attack Speed
- +100% Piercing Attack
- +325-375% Enhanced Damage (varies)
- +9 to Maximum Damage
- 20% Bonus to Attack Rating
- Adds 3-14 Cold Damage
- Freezes Target +3
- +24 to Vitality
- All Resistances +40
- socketed (5)
3. Obsession
Obsession is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining zod + ist + lem + lum + io + nef into a 6 socket staff. It requires at least level 69 to equip.
Obsession is only the second runeword to require a Zod rune. Although as a caster weapon, the Indestructible mod will not have any benefit, as casting does not lower the durability of a weapon.
All stats provided by this runeword are very useful for a caster, however it is still to see if it can beat the Occulus/HoTo and Spirit shield combo.
Because of the auto mods that can roll on a white staff, this weapon can actually have +7 to your main skill, which is more than the current dual wield maximum of +5. The fact that you won't be using a Spirit shield, means that you don't have to invest 156 Strength points.
The other attributes like Vitality, Increase Maximum Life, and All Resistances speak for themselves, as they will drastically increase the survivability of the player.
Obsession has a 24% chance to cast a level 10 Weaken when struck. When the curse is active, physical damage is reduced by 33%. The damage reduction does not scale with higher levels.
Weaken level breakdown Weaken level 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 radius 9.3 10 10.6 11.3 12 12.6 13.3 14 14.6 duration (s) 26 28.4 30.8 33.2 35.6 38 40.4 42.8 45.2 Obsession increases your Cast Rate by a whopping 65%. Faster cast rate reduces the cast animation time of all spells. It does not have any affect on cast delays though. The sorceress will reach the 9 frame breakpoint with this runeword alone.
faster cast rate breakpoints faster cast rate frames 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 sorceress 0 9 20 37 63 105 200 sorceress (lightning) 0 7 15 23 35 52 78 117 194 Obsession also increases your Hit Recovery Speed by a whopping 60%. Faster hit recovery reduces the "hit stun" animation time, which is triggered when a hit takes more than 1/12th of your total life. For many classes, this already puts you in one of the highest frame rates realistically achievable.
faster hit recovery breakpoints faster hit recovery frames 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 sorceress 0 5 9 14 20 30 42 60 86 142 280 - Indestructible
- 24% Chance to cast level 10 Weaken when struck
- +4 To All Skills
- +65% Faster Cast Rate
- +60% Faster Hit Recovery
- Knockback
- +10 To Vitality
- +10 To Energy
- Increase Maximum Life 15-25% (varies)
- Regenerate Mana 15-30% (varies)
- All Resistances +60-70 (varies)
- 75% Extra Gold from Monsters
- 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
- socketed (6)
4. Pattern
Pattern is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining tal + ort + thul into a 3 socket claw. It requires at least level 23 to equip.
The Pattern runeword is a low level claws runeword released in patch 2.4. It is one of the runewords that were in the original game files, but were disabled. Blizzard had announced 10 new runewords for patch 1.11, but only 7 made it in the final release (excluding Pattern).
The updated stats for the Pattern runeword were revealed, and show that Pattern will be a good low-to-mid tier claw for Assassins transitioning from Normal to Nightmare. While it technically only requires level 23 to equip due to the runes, a Claw with 3 sockets can only roll on claws with iLevel 26 or higher. So the earliest you can find this is in Act 4 Normal.
The Faster Block Rate reduces the amount of frames of the blocking animation. By itself, this runeword lacks only 2 points to reach 3 frames (out of 5 frames default).
Faster Block Rate breakpoints for the Assassin character block frames 5 4 3 2 1 Assassin 0 13 32 86 600 - +30% Faster Bock Rate
- +40-80% Enhanced damage (varies)
- 10% Bonus to Attack Rating
- Adds 17-62 Fire Damage
- Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
- Adds 3-14 Cold Damage
- +75 Poison Damage over 5 seconds
- +6 to Strength
- +6 to Dexterity
- All Resistances +15
- socketed (3)
5. Plague
Plague is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining cham + shael + um into a 3 socket sword, claw or dagger. It requires at least level 67 to equip.
The Plague runeword is a high level weapon runeword released in patch 2.4. It is one of the runewords that were in the original game files, but were disabled. Blizzard had announced 10 new runewords for patch 1.11, but only 7 made it in the final release (excluding Plague).
The allowed gear initially changed from all weapons to Swords only, this severely limited the usability and was a missed opportunity to give a solid runeword for Claws and Daggers.
Cleansing level breakdown Cleansing level 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 radius 24 25.3 26.6 28 29.3 30.6 32 33.3 34.6 duration reduction % 72 73 75 76 76 78 78 79 79 Plague has a 20% chance to cast a level 12 Lower Resist when struck.
Lower Resist level breakdown Lower Resist level 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 radius 9.3 10 10.6 11.3 12 12.6 13.3 14 14.6 duration (s) 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 resist all -% 52 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 - 25% Chance to Cast Level 15 Poison Nova On Striking
- 20% Chance to Cast Level 12 Lower Resist When Struck
- Level 13-17 Cleansing Aura When Equipped (varies)
- +1-2 All Skills
- +20% Increased Attack Speed
- +220-320% Enhanced Damage (varies)
- -23% To Enemy Poison Resistance
- 0.3% (0-29.7) Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
- 25% Chance of Open Wounds
- Freezes Target +3
- socketed (3)
advertisement6. Unbending Will
Unbending Will is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining fal + io + ith + eld + el + hel into a 6 socket sword. It requires at least level 41 to equip.
The Unbending Will runeword is a mid level sword runeword released in patch 2.4. It is a great mid level and budget melee weapon that offers a huge boost to Enhanced Damage.
It is comparable to other melee runewords like Black, Death, and Oath. It looks like this runeword will fit as a runeword specifically for the Act 5 mercenary after the mercenary balance changes.
With a relatively high chance to proc Taunt, you will have a consistent way of debuffing your enemies. Keep in mind that Taunt is a single target war cry. When used on an Act 5 mercenary, he will only cast Taunt on the enemies he is already targeting.
Taunt level breakdown Taunt level 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 decreased damage 23% 25% 27% 29% 31% 33% 35% 37% 39% 41% 43% decreased attack rating 23% 25% 27% 29% 31% 33% 35% 37% 39% 41% 43% - 18% Chance To Cast Level 18 Taunt On Striking
- +3 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
- +20-30% Increased Attack Speed (varies)
- +300-350% Enhanced Damage
- +9 to Maximum Damage
- +50 to Attack Rating
- +75 Damage to Undead
- +50 to Attack Rating Against Undead
- 8-10% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
- Prevent Monster Heal
- +10 to Strength
- +10 to Vitality
- Damage Reduced By 8
- +1 to Light Radius
- Requirements -20%
- socketed (6)
7. Wisdom
Wisdom is a Diablo 2 Resurrected runeword created by combining pul + ith + eld into a 3 socket helm. It requires at least level 45 to equip.
Wisdom is a mid level helm runeword released in patch 2.4. It seems to be an Amazon focused runeword with a lot of focus on mana regeneration, something which low level Amazons tend to struggle with.
The fact that it requires a Pul rune makes it hard to justify as a runeword you create while progressing, as you will likely replace this by something better later on.
- 33% Piercing Attack
- +15-25% Bonus to Attack Rating (varies)
- 4-8% mana stolen per hit (varies)
- +30% Enhanced Defense
- +10 Energy
- Lowers Stamina drain by 15%
- Cannot Be Frozen
- +5 mana after each kill
- 15% damage taken goes to mana
- socketed (3)
Make sure to check out our runeword calculator before the new ladder season hits, and don't miss out on any runewords you can create.
What's your favorite new runeword?
From the Blizzard post
DIABLO II: RESURRECTED PATCH 2.4 HIGHLIGHTS | COMING SOON
Greetings, Heroes of Sanctuary. We’d like to take this opportunity to highlight exciting upcoming balance changes, alongside a couple of new features coming in our next Diablo II: Resurrected update!
PLEASE NOTE: Game content discussed in this blog is not final and subject to change.
QUEST LOG
Ladder Rank Play
Like Diablo II Classic, Diablo II: Resurrected will feature four different Ladder modes, including:
Version Description Standard Ladder The casual version of Ladder play that encompasses playing with four acts. Hardcore Ladder The hardcore (only 1 life) version of Ladder play that encompasses playing with four acts. Standard Expansion Ladder The casual version of Ladder play that encompasses playing five acts, as it includes the “Lord of Destruction” expansion content. Hardcore Expansion Ladder The hardcore (only 1 life) version of Ladder play that encompasses playing five acts, as it includes the “Lord of Destruction” expansion content. For the first time, players will have the chance to unlock a host of new Rune Words in the Ladder system! To be clear, these Rune Words have never existed in the game before, and they will not be accessible in non-Ladder play like the previous set of Ladder-only Rune Words in the original Diablo II experience. At the end of a Ladder season, players who successfully made these Rune Words will have their Ladder characters be moved into a “non-Ladder” version of the game. Then at the beginning of the next Ladder season, players will make a new Ladder character and start all over again to earn new rewards. Currently, we don’t have specific new Rune Words to showcase, but if you tune-in to our Developer Update Stream (more details below) hosted by content creator MrLlamaSC, you’ll be able to receive a glimpse!
Lastly, we’ve been monitoring discussions around Ladder Rank play in the community. The duration of Ladder is an element our team is still trying to gauge as we progress forward, but we’re looking to create the “rush” of a new ladder and find the best timeframe for Ladder rotation that meets your expectations. Presently, we’re considering four months for Ladder Seasons. We’ll continue monitoring the community’s opinion and preference on this front as we approach PTR for Patch 2.4 early next year.
Class Balance Changes
After so many requests from the community, we’re thrilled to share new balance changes are coming to your favorite heroes in Diablo II: Resurrected! As fans ourselves, we’re just as eager as you to find new ways to play. This is incredibly special, as the last patch to make balance changes to classes in Diablo II was Patch 1.13c, which was released back on March 23, 2010! Now, eleven years later, we’re making new changes to expand character build diversity, and retain class fantasy and specialty! These goals are crucial. We’re reviewing underused skills, assessing casting delays, making tooltip quality-of-life changes, and more to fulfill these goals.
We want to empower you to be creative with the builds you want to play, but we don’t want to “reinvent the wheel” and steer classes from their core purposes. Without diving into the specifics, let’s take a peek at the philosophies behind various Class changes.
AMAZON
The Amazon's agility and versatility are profound. Generally, we like the current state of the Amazon class and believe her to be quite balanced. Nonetheless, we see an opportunity to improve the Amazon's melee skills. We want to buff the strengths of certain underused melee skills such as Impale and Fend to give more reasons to use them. We are also looking into freeing up synergy requirements for melee skills to give more skill point freedom for other possibilities.
Additionally, we are also considering buffing certain skills in the Bow and Crossbow tree to help improve bow gameplay in higher difficulties.
ASSASSIN
The Assassin vanquishes evil from the darkness with great ease. However, for this class, we see an opportunity for the Martial Arts builds to shine brighter. Martial Arts skills can become increasingly challenging to perform in higher difficulties, so we are re-evaluating how to improve generating and spending Combo Points.
Furthermore, various Trap skills are not often used. So, we’re re-evaluating synergy requirements to promote more trap builds and damage scaling buffs.
BARBARIAN
The brawn of the Barbarian is unmatched. Nonetheless, we see opportunities to add more diversity to Combat skills. We're looking into adding more possibilities with Combat Skills such as Leap Attack and Grim Ward, while also re-evaluating skill synergy requirements to promote more reasons to spend points on certain Combat Skills. Additionally, we think Throwing Barbarians can be more viable, so we are looking into enhancing the Double Throw and Throwing Mastery skills.
DRUID
The bestial ferocity of the Druid makes all tremble. With that said, we see exciting opportunities to level up certain aspects of this class. From our perspective, Druid Fire skills are underperforming. We're re-evaluating Casting Delays for Fire skills, exploring improvements to some of their Physical Damage components, and improving synergies. We’re also looking at potential tweaks affecting other Elemental skills that are underused. We want to improve the controls for Arctic Blast too, such as allowing more free form while channeling and no longer locking your targeting onto one enemy at a time.
Regarding Summon skills, we believe Summons are weak in high difficulty. On this front, we’re evaluating health gains per level, quality-of-life improvements, damage output, and new synergies for Ravens, Wolves, and Vines.
Lastly, we're evaluating improvements to the Werebear skills, primarily focused on synergy improvements.
NECROMANCER
The commander of death sends his foes to an early grave. Like the Amazon, we like the current state of the Necromancer class. Nonetheless, we see an opportunity to improve specific Summons we believe are underused. We're balancing elemental damages of Skeletal Mages and making lesser used Golems more effective. Additionally, we see opportunities for Bone skill improvements in high difficulty. We’re tweaking synergies on this front.
PALADIN
The wrath of the holy zealot is glorious. Despite this, we believe certain Combat skills are underused. We’re exploring ways to make lesser-used skills (I.e., Fist of the Heavens) more utilized, so players have more reasons to spend skill points to unlock these skills. The wrath of the holy zealot is glorious. Despite this, we believe certain Combat skills are underused. We’re exploring ways to make lesser-used skills (I.e., Fist of the Heavens) more utilized, so players have more reasons to spend skill points to unlock these skills.
We also see an opportunity to scale Offensive Aura skills as well. This includes making improvements to AoE Damage auras to make them more effective at closer range. We also want to improve Thorns so that it can scale better and deal more reliable damage at higher levels.
SORCERESS
There is no greater master of elemental magic than these mages. We're very satisfied with the Sorceress’s current state, but we see a few of opportunities for improvements.
Regarding Cold Skills, we believe there can be more diversity with the armor skills (I.e., Frozen Armor, Shiver Armor, and Chilling Armor) for distinctive advantages.
We are also looking into adding more build possibilities around lesser used Lightning skills by exploring more skill synergies. Lastly, we’re also revisiting Fire skills, to improve underused ones, like Hydra. Similar to Arctic Blast, we're exploring making player control improvements to the Inferno skill so that it is less clunky to use.
Mercenary Changes & New Rune Words
And we’re not done. Class Balance changes aren’t the only updates players want to see. We’ve seen a lot of feedback from the community around the subject of Mercenaries, and we are making improvements to Mercenaries in a variety of ways. Many players enjoy using the Desert Mercenary, and we want to give more reasons to use the other three mercenaries, so we are looking into improving their skills and stats to enhance their identity and fantasy.
New Horadric Cube Recipes, Set Item changes, and new Rune Words are on the horizon! New Horadric Cube Recipes being implemented will allow for upgrading the item quality of Set Items to give more item build possibilities. Set Item changes will update underperforming Set Items, to have more bonuses, giving players more incentive to pursue Partial and Full set items that can complement the skill changes alluded above. Lastly, new Rune Words will be added to complement the Skill and Mercenary changes coming in the update.
Developer Update Stream
This blog is just scratching the surface about upcoming changes and features coming in Patch 2.4 PTR (coming early next year)! To learn more, we invite you to join community content creator, MrLlamaSC, Diablo II: Resurrected Design Lead, Robert Gallerani, and Senior Game Producer, Matthew Cederquist, in their upcoming livestream. This broadcast will be both a presentation and an opportunity for members of the community to ask questions. We can’t wait to share more with you then!
WHEN: WHERE: December 16 | 11:00 AM (PST) https://www.twitch.tv/mrllamasc This has been an incredible year for Diablo II: Resurrected. We wish our community a happy holiday season and a happy new year! Thank you for playing our game and thank you for your continued support!
An overview of the 7 new runewords
Runeword | Sockets | Allowed Bases | Runeword Recipe | Level | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flickering Flame | 3 sockets | helm | 55 | ||
| Mist | 5 sockets | missile weapon | 67 | Level 8-12 Concentration Aura When Equipped (varies)+3 to All Skills+20% Increased Attack Speed (shael)+100% Piercing Attack+325-375% Enhanced Damage (varies)+9 to Maximum Damage (ith)20% Bonus to Attack Rating (gul)Adds 3-14 Cold Damage (thul)Freezes Target +3 (cham)+24 to VitalityAll Resistances +40 | |
| Obsession | 6 sockets | staff | 69 | Indestructible (zod)24% Chance to cast level 10 Weaken when struck+4 To All Skills+65% Faster Cast Rate+60% Faster Hit RecoveryKnockback (nef)+10 To Vitality (io)+10 To Energy (lum)Increase Maximum Life 15-25% (varies)Regenerate Mana 15-30% (varies)All Resistances +60-70 (varies)75% Extra Gold from Monsters (lem)30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (ist) | |
| Pattern | 3 sockets | hand to hand | 23 | ||
| Plague | 3 sockets | sword, knife, hand to hand | 67 | 25% Chance to Cast Level 15 Poison Nova On Striking20% Chance to Cast Level 12 Lower Resist When StruckLevel 13-17 Cleansing Aura When Equipped (varies)+1-2 All Skills+20% Increased Attack Speed (shael)+220-320% Enhanced Damage (varies)-23% To Enemy Poison Resistance0.3% (0-29.7) Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)25% Chance of Open Wounds (um)Freezes Target +3 (cham) | |
| Unbending Will | 6 sockets | sword | 41 | 18% Chance To Cast Level 18 Taunt On Striking+3 to Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)+20-30% Increased Attack Speed (varies)+300-350% Enhanced Damage+9 to Maximum Damage (ith)+50 to Attack Rating (el)+75 Damage to Undead+50 to Attack Rating Against Undead (eld)8-10% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)Prevent Monster Heal+10 to Strength (fal)+10 to Vitality (io)Damage Reduced By 8+1 to Light Radius (el)Requirements -20% (hel) | |
| Wisdom | 3 sockets | helm | 45 |
